Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster's Son and the FBI Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime Family Read online

  Copyright © 2011 by Frank Calabrese, Jr.,

  Keith Zimmerman, Kent Zimmerman, and Paul Pompian

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Broadway Books,

  an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group,

  a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  www.crownpublishing.com

  BROADWAY BOOKS and the Broadway Books colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Operation family secrets : how a mobster’s son and the FBI brought down Chicago’s murderous crime family /

  Frank Calabrese, Jr.… [et al.]—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  1. Calabrese, Frank, 1937– 2. Gangsters—Illinois—

  Chicago—Biography. 3. Murderers—United States—

  Biography. I. Calabrese, Frank, Jr. II. Title.

  HV6248.C126O64 2011

  364.1092—dc22

  [B] 2010028174

  eISBN: 978-0-307-71774-0

  Jacket design by Howard Grossman

  Jacket photograph courtesy of the author

  v3.1

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  1. Family Secrets

  2. The Patch, and Grand and Ogden

  3. Who Wouldn’t Love a Guy Like That?

  4. Like Father, Like Son?

  5. Fast with His Hands

  6. The Art of Blending In

  7. Outfit Reign of Terror

  8. Frankie & Johnny’s

  9. A White Flash and a Burst of Heat

  10. Keep Things in the Family

  11. Philly Beans

  12. The Boys Out West

  13. Killing of the Zhivagos

  14. Oh No, Not You!

  15. How Bad Could It Be?

  16. Scared Cow

  17. Set Up for a Fall

  18. Florida

  19. I Took the Money

  20. The Thousand-Yard Stare

  21. Busted

  22. College with Guns

  23. The MCC

  24. A Chance to Step Up

  25. Two Choices, Neither One Good

  26. The Moment I Sent It …

  27. Scarpe Grande

  28. The Wire

  29. My Father’s Executioner

  30. Three Secret Lives

  31. The Changing Streets

  32. A Royal Pain in the … Back

  33. Pandora’s Box

  34. Life on the Squad

  35. The Terrible Towel

  36. What Happened to My Father?

  37. The Trial Stage

  38. Broken Code

  39. The Road to Justice

  40. I Keep Thinking This Is a Dream

  41. The Umbrella Effect

  EPILOGUE: Behind the Picture Frame

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  About the Authors

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  For easy reference, here are the major and minor characters who are mentioned in the book and figure into my story. It is by no means meant to be a complete list of family, Outfit members, crews, and associates.

  Calabrese Family

  Frank Calabrese, Sr.—My father

  Nick W. Calabrese—My uncle

  James and Sophie Calabrese—My grandparents on my father’s side

  Marie, James Jr., Christine, Joe, and Rosemary—My aunts and uncles on my father’s side

  Dolores Hanley Calabrese—My mother

  Edward Hanley—My uncle on my mother’s side

  Kurt Calabrese—My middle brother

  Nicky S. Calabrese—My youngest brother

  Lisa Swan—My ex-wife

  Kelly Calabrese—My daughter

  Anthony Calabrese—My son

  Angela Lascola—Kurt’s wife, granddaughter of Angelo “The Hook” LaPietra

  Diane Cimino—My father’s second wife

  Joy Calabrese—Uncle Nick’s first wife

  Michelle Calabrese—My first cousin and Uncle Nick’s oldest daughter

  Noreen Tenuta Calabrese—Uncle Nick’s current wife

  Franco Calabrese—Noreen and Nick’s son

  Christina Calabrese—Noreen and Nick’s oldest child

  Danny Alberga—Longtime friend and owner and operator of Bella Luna

  Frank Coconate—Longtime friend of both me and my father

  FBI and Federal Prosecutors

  FBI Agent Michael Maseth

  FBI Agent Michael Hartnett

  FBI Agent John Mallul

  FBI Agent Ted McNamara

  FBI Agent Chris Mackey

  FBI Agent Luigi Mondini

  FBI Agent Tracy Balinao

  Retired FBI Agent Tom Bourgeois

  Retired FBI Agent Zack Shelton

  Retired FBI Agent James Wagner

  CPD Officer Bob Moon—Organized Crime Task Force member

  Mitch Mars—Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief of the Organized Crime Section, Operation Family Secrets Prosecutor

  John Scully—Assistant U.S. Attorney, Operation Family Secrets Prosecutor

  T. Markus Funk—Assistant U.S. Attorney, Operation Family Secrets Prosecutor

  Patrick Fitzgerald—U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois

  The Street

  OUTFIT BOSSES

  Tony “Joe Batters/Big Tuna” Accardo—Consigliere

  Joey “Doves/Joe O’Brien” Aiuppa—Boss

  Jackie “The Lackey” Cerrone—Underboss

  CHINATOWN/26TH STREET CREW

  Angelo “The Hook” LaPietra—Capo and my father’s mentor

  James “Brother Jimmy” LaPietra—Angelo’s brother

  John “Johnny Apes” Monteleone

  James “Poker/Tires” DiForti

  Joseph “Shorty” LaMantia

  John “Big Stoop” Fecarotta

  Frank “Toots” Caruso

  Frank “Frankie C” Calabrese, Sr.—My father

  THE CALABRESE CREW

  Nick “Gus” Calabrese—My uncle

  Ronnie “Little Guy” Jarrett—My father’s first lieutenant

  Mike Ricci—Operation Family Secrets co-defendant

  Anthony “Twan” Doyle—Operation Family Secrets co-defendant

  Nicholas “Nick” Ferriola—Son of Joe Ferriola

  Larry Stubitsch—My father’s original partner

  Frank “Gumba” Saladino

  Frank “Ciccio” Furio

  Michael “Nef” Talarico

  Phil “Philly Bean” Tolomeo

  Phil “Pete” Fiore

  Ralph “Curly” Peluso

  Louis Bombacino

  CICERO/BERWYN CREW

  Sam “Wings” Carlisi—Capo

  Joe “Joe Nagall” Ferriola

  Ernest “Rocky” Infelise

  William “Butch” Petrocelli

  Harry Aleman

  Tony “Tony Bors” Borsellino

  James “Little Jimmy/Jimmy Light” Marcello—Operation Family Secrets co-defendant

  Anthony “Tony the Hatch/The Hatchet” Chiaramonti

  Salvatore “Solly D” DeLaurentis

  Gerald “Gerry” Scarpelli

  Michael “Mickey” Marcello—Jimmy Marcello’s stepbrother

  James “Jimmy I” Inendino

  Louie Marino

  GRAND AVENUE CREW

  Joe “The Clown/Lumpy” L
ombardo—Capo and Operation Family Secrets co-defendant

  Anthony “Tony/The Ant” Spilotro

  Michael Spilotro—Tony’s brother

  Frank “The German” Schweihs—Operation Family Secrets co-defendant

  Paul “The Indian” Schiro—Operation Family Secrets co-defendant

  Joseph “Joey” Hansen

  CROWN HEIGHTS CREW

  Dominick “Tootsie” Palermo

  Nicky Guzzino

  CHICAGO HEIGHTS CREW

  Al Pilotto—Capo

  Al “Little Caesar” Tocco

  James “Jimmy the Bomber” Catuara

  ELMWOOD/MELROSE PARK CREW

  John “No Nose” DiFronzo—Capo

  Joe “The Builder/Joey A” Andriacchi

  Louie “The Mooch” Eboli

  I set myself up in the corner of the prison library at the Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Michigan, and banged out the letter to FBI Special Agent Thomas Bourgeois on a cranky old Smith-Corona manual typewriter. My mobster father, Frank Calabrese, Sr.—who was serving time with me in FCI Milan—had taught me to be decisive. So when I typed the letter, my mind was made up.

  I didn’t touch the paper directly. I used my winter gloves to handle the sheet and held the envelope with a Kleenex so as not to leave any fingerprints. The moment I mailed the letter on July 27, 1998, I knew I had crossed the line. Cooperating with the FBI meant not only that I would give up my father, but that I would have to implicate my uncle Nick for the murder of a Chicago Outfit mobster named John “Big Stoop” Fecarotta. Giving up my uncle was the hardest part.

  When I reread the letter one last time, I asked myself, What kind of son puts his father away for life? The Federal Bureau of Prisons had dealt me a cruel blow by sticking me in the same prison as my dad. It had become increasingly clear that his vow to “step away” from the Outfit after we both served our time was an empty promise.

  “I feel I have to help you keep this sick man locked up forever,” I wrote in my letter.

  Due to legal and safety concerns, it was five months before Agent Thomas Bourgeois arranged a visit to meet with me at FCI Milan. He came alone in the early winter of 1998. In 1997 the FBI and Chicago federal prosecutors had convicted the Calabrese crew, netting my father, Uncle Nick, my younger brother Kurt, and me on juice loans. Bourgeois seemed confused and wanted to know what I wanted.

  I’m sure Bourgeois also wondered the same thing I had: What kind of son wants to put his father away for life? Maybe he thought I was lying. Perhaps I had gotten into an argument and, like most cons, was looking to get my sentence reduced. Yet in our ensuing conversation, I told Tom that I wasn’t asking for much in return. I just didn’t want to lose any of my time served, and I wanted a transfer out of FCI Milan once my mission was accomplished.

  By imprisoning us on racketeering charges, the Feds thought that they had broken up the notorious Calabrese South Side crew. In reality they had barely scratched the surface. I alerted Bourgeois that I was not looking to break up the mob. I had one purpose: to help the FBI keep my father locked up forever so that he could get the psychological help he needed. The FBI didn’t know the half of his issues or his other crimes.

  When asked by Bourgeois if I would wear a wire out on the prison yard, I promptly replied no. I would work with the FBI, but I would only give them intelligence, useful information they could use, and with the understanding that nobody would know I was cooperating, and I would not testify in open court. Outfit guys like my dad called that “dry beefing.” Frank Calabrese, Sr., was one of the Outfit’s most cunning criminals and had been a successful crew chief and solid earner for the Chicago mob for thirty years. He could smell an FBI informant a mile away. If he hadn’t talked about his criminal life in the past, why would he do so now?

  I searched my soul to make sure I wasn’t doing this out of spite or because Dad had reneged on taking care of me and Kurt financially in exchange for doing time. This couldn’t be about money!

  After Agent Bourgeois’s first interview with me at Milan, he reported back to Mitch Mars, an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief of the Chicago Organized Crime Section. Mars wanted to know if there was enough to present the case to a grand jury and gather a bigger, more inclusive case against “the Outfit,” Chicago’s multitentacled organized crime syndicate, which dated back to the days of “Big Jim” Colosimo and Al Capone.

  As I lay in my cell bunk, I thought about my refusal to wear a wire. Suppose I gave the Feds information, but my father got lucky and walked? I’d be screwed, Uncle Nick would be stuck on death row, and after my dad’s sentence ran out he would bounce right back out on the streets to continue his juice loan business and murderous ways.

  What if what I was doing was wrong? How could I live with myself? I loved my dad dearly, and I love him to this day. But I was repulsed by the violence and his controlling ways. I had to decide between doing nothing and cooperating with the Feds, two choices I hated.

  I knew that if I did nothing, my father and I would have to settle our differences out on the street. One of us would end up dead, while the other would rot in prison. I would be incriminating myself, and I didn’t want an immunity deal. If I needed to do more time to keep my dad locked up forever, so be it. After I sent the letter, I was determined to finish what I started. I contacted Agent Bourgeois one more time to tell him I had changed my mind. I would wear the wire after all. All the deception my father had taught me I was now going to use on him.

  My father’s own words would become his worst enemy.

  My father, Frank Calabrese, Sr., the boss of the Calabrese (pronounced Cala-BREESE) family and street crew, was born on the West Side of Chicago in a working-class Italian area known as “the Patch.” This legendary neighborhood is bordered by Grand, Western, and Chicago avenues and the Kennedy Expressway. The Patch at Grand Avenue and Ogden was home to other famous Outfit gangster bosses like Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo and Joe “the Clown” Lombardo. Tony and Michael Spilotro’s parents, Pasquale and Antoinette, ran Patsy’s Restaurant in the Patch, where Outfit bosses such as Salvatore “Sam” Giancana, Jackie “the Lackey” Cerone, Gus “Slim” Alex, and Frank “the Enforcer” Nitti often dined.

  Another Italian neighborhood, Little Italy, ran along Taylor Street from Halsted Street to Ashland Avenue. Cicero, Melrose Park, and Elmwood Park became primary suburban fiefdoms of the Chicago Outfit. Taylor Street was in the First Ward, headed by former Alderman John D’Arco; his successor, Fred Roti; and First Ward “secretary” Pasquale “Pat” Marcy. Since the thirties, the First Ward had controlled a large bloc of city jobs and had a stranglehold on the Department of Streets and Sanitation.

  Frank Calabrese, Sr., was born March 17, 1937, to James and Sophie Calabrese in the urban pocket of Grand and Ogden. Their family lineage was Barese and Sicilian, and both my grandfather’s and my grandmother’s parents immigrated to Chicago directly from the old country. James’s family originally settled in the Taylor Street area (Little Italy), while Sophie barely left Grand and Ogden (the Patch).

  Frank was the oldest of seven brothers and sisters. From oldest to youngest, his siblings were Marie, Nick, James junior (now deceased), Christine, Joe, and Roseanne. Although the family was raised Catholic, the Calabreses were not active in the church. With so many children, Grandma Sophie ran the family like a drill sergeant. If the kids didn’t come home at the appointed time, they often slept in a doghouse outside, even in the dead of winter. For poor working-class Italians, money was tight throughout the 1940s and 1950s. My dad claimed the family was so impoverished they would eat “poor man’s oatmeal,” or polenta, for dinner.

  At the age of five my father was stricken with scarlet fever and sent to Children’s Memorial Hospital. Despite his youth, through a combination of intimidation and charisma, he took over the entire children’s ward and became the de facto leader. Because of his illness, he started Otis Elementary School late. Big and stocky for his age, he ruled the playground. He was
known to detest bullies and stand up for the underdog. As he got older, he became fast with his hands and would fight at the slightest provocation. After he was kicked out of Otis Elementary, he hit the mean streets of Grand and Ogden.

  At age thirteen, he ran a newspaper stand with his younger brother Nick on the busy corner of Grand and State. Although my grandparents worked hard, the Calabrese sons wore hand-me-downs, stuffing cardboard into their shoes once the soles of their feet felt the pavement. By age fifteen, he generated enough cash from his newsstand so that his parents relied on him to help support the entire Calabrese brood. No matter how slim their coffers got, Grandma and Grandpa could look to their eldest son to help pull the family through.

  During the Christmas season of 1949, my grandparents found they had no money to buy holiday food or gifts. Still a youngster, Frank had set aside one hundred dollars from his thriving newspaper stand. He handed it over to his mother and father to spend on food and gifts for his brothers and sisters, but with one stipulation: they buy him a fishing pole. Come Christmas Day, there was no fishing pole. The slight bothered him deeply, and he hasn’t forgotten the incident, often retelling the story to me and my brothers.

  To this day, my dad is self-conscious about his lack of formal education and has difficulty writing a simple letter. Though he didn’t believe in running with organized street gangs, he emerged as a tough guy. By age sixteen, he began accumulating arrests for thievery and assault. He was a hothead, unable to control his temper. Before embracing the Outfit, he built a reputation around Grand and Ogden for being his own man.

  In 1953, Grandpa Calabrese decided that he could no longer control his sixteen-year-old son’s unruly behavior, so he brought him down to the recruiting center and signed him up for a hitch in the United States Army. Grandpa lied, claiming that his son was of age and eligible to serve. Against my dad’s wishes, he was sent off to basic training.

  He didn’t like the Army and went AWOL almost as soon as he was inducted. While the military police tried to locate him, he returned to the Patch and secretly lived inside the rooftop pigeon coop of his parents’ four-flat apartment building. Nobody found him for weeks, but once he was sent back to the Army, he got into a fight with one of his commanders in the mess hall and was locked up in the stockade. He went AWOL a second time. The authorities chased him through the fields of rural Illinois until a posse of farmers with bloodhounds tracked him down. After he was apprehended, the state police charged him with stealing a car. Rather than return to the military, he did his first stretch in federal prison, in Ashland in eastern Kentucky. Stocky and tough, he took up weight lifting in prison. Once he was released, he spent a short time in the ring as a semipro boxer and won a few weight-lifting trophies.